NEW ALLEYS FOR NOTHING MEN features seven previously published stories alongside five stories never before published anywhere. Together, these eleven short stories and one novelette read like a handbook for the bent but not yet broken, humanizing even the darkest moments with laughter and tears. A gripping collection from an emerging voice on today’s noir fiction scene, New Alleys is sure to hit you right in the gut. Includes stories published in magazines such as Thuglit, All Due Respect, Heater, Out of the Gutter, Urban Graffiti and more! “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll keep turning the pages, because one thing is for sure--Michael Pool can write. A gripping collection of tales about the broken, the bent and the down-and-out. Michael dishes up characters with depth, facing internal and external conflicts that will leave you wanting more. One of the best short story collections I’ve read.”– Dietrich Kalteis, award-winning author of Ride the Lightning, The Deadbeat Club and Triggerfish (coming June, 2016) “Michael Pool writes desperate individuals doing dark deeds. NEW ALLEYS FOR NOTHING MEN is why we read this stuff. In Michael’s short fiction, no quarter is given and no punches held. I’m looking forward to his long form works but his short stories have me hooked like some of his characters, scrambling for JUST. ONE. MORE.” —Craig McNeely, Double Life Press New Alleys For Nothing Men reads like a handbook for desperate people. Many of the characters in this compelling collection find themselves in dire straights after life-changing events. Pool's knack for showing how people react when the chips are down is what brings these stories to life—each in its own dark way. This is a book about the moments that change us, and the moment to read it is now. — S.W. Lauden, author of Bad Citizen Corporation and Crosswise

New Alleys For Nothing Men: Noir Stories

Pool, Michael

Literature & Fiction

Short Stack Books

The Fast Women and Neon Lights anthology is a wild criminal romp inspired by eighties crime movies and television shows, as well as the wacky, over-the-top eighties style and aesthetic. These eighteen hard-hitting, emotional, and often-hilarious stories written by some of today's top neo-noir authors will disturb you, make you laugh, and most of all, keep you highly entertained from cover to cover! Car thieves, down-on-their-luck Karate guys, out-of-control valley girls, Air Jordan-obssesed clutz robbers, professional opponent wrestlers, aspiring female wrestlers, Oingo Boingo-obsessed cocaine fiends, vice cop mashups, high-stakes gamblers, and heroin-addicted punk rock managers are just a taste of what you'll find in these dark pages!

Fast Women and Neon Lights: Eighties-Inspired Neon Noir

Cosby, S.A.

COOPER, PATRICK

Richardson, Kat

Lauden, S.W.

Kalteis, Dietrich

Wiebe, Sam

Chen, Sarah M.

Genre Fiction

THE BEST DAMN CRIME FICTION ON THE PLANET is back once again, all wrapped up in one neat little package for you to run your greasy eyeballs over. EIGHT brand new stories of the devious, the desperate, the dastardly, the dubious, and the degenerate just for YOU, oh sweet Thugleteer… IN THIS ISSUE OF THUGLIT: WAYLON, ON RERUN by Michael Pool PROOF OF DEATH by Mike Madden CANARY by Matthew J. Hockey THE FAIR by Dan J. Fiore THE KOMPANSKI INCIDENT by Joseph Rubas THE CALUMET by Amanda Marbais X by Angel Luis Colón SHADOWS OF THE MOUSE by Garnett Elliott

THUGLIT Issue Eighteen

Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Rubas, Joseph

Madden, Mike

Marbais, Amanda

Fiore, Dan J.

Colon, Angel

Hockey, Matthew J

Elliot, Garnett

Mystery

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Texas has it all, from bustling big cities to sleepy small towns, and law enforcement alone can’t solve every crime. That’s where private eyes come in. They take the cases law enforcement can’t—or won’t. Private eyes may walk the mean streets of Dallas and Houston, but they also stroll through small West Texas towns where the secrets are sometimes more dangerous. Whether driving a Mustang or riding a Mustang, a private eye in Texas is unlike any other in the world. The Eyes of Texas features seventeen original tales of Lone Star State private eyes from Trey R. Barker, Chuck Brownman, Michael Chandos, John M. Floyd, Debra H. Goldstein, James A. Hearn, Richard Helms, Robert S. Levinson, Scott Montgomery, Sandra Murphy, Josh Pachter, Michael Pool, Graham Powell, William Dylan Powell, Stephen D. Rogers, Mark Troy, and Bev Vincent.

The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods

Goldstein, Debra H.

Bracken, Michael

Vincent, Bev

Floyd, John M.

Murphy, Sandra

Powell, William Dylan

Hearn, James A.

Barker, Trey R.

Short Stories & Anthologies

Down & Out Books

Private investigator Riley Reeves specializes in cases of at-risk or missing girls that often lead her into dangerous waters. On the same day that a socialite couple hires Riley to protect their teenage daughter Carmen from a mysteriousstalker, Riley's troubled alcoholic brother and last living relative, Chip, shows up on her doorstep fresh out of the state penitentiary.Riley's investigation soon uncovers that Carmen is involvedwith a dangerous group of redneck gangbangers, thoughtheir connection to the stalking remains unclear.Meanwhile, Chip is off the wagon and running wild, drummingup constant trouble that soon arrives at Riley's doorstep. As pressure ratchets up from all sides, personal and professional, will Riley be able to save the girl without neglecting her own loved ones at the time they need her most

Throwing Off Sparks: A Riley Reeves Mystery

P.I. Tales

Crimson Smile / The Path of Jackals: A P.I. Tales Double Feature

Eden, Hunter

Cooper and Davis are a couple of jam band-obsessed Texas ex-pats growing some of Denver’s finest organic cannabis and living the good life on tour. Or, at least they were, until legal weed put the squeeze on their market and cramped their playboy lifestyle. When their last out-of-state distributor gets busted by an Illinois task force, they’re left with no choice but to turn to their reckless former associate Elroy “Sancho” Watts to unload one last crop down in Teller County, Texas. But Sancho Watts has troubles of his own in the form of Texas Ranger Russ Kirkpatrick, tasked under the table with nailing Watts for anything that will stick because of his involvement in the drug-induced suicide of a state senator’s son. Not to mention his infamous new business partner, Heisman quarterback and NFL burnout Bobby Burnell, a man working to rise from the ashes of his self-destructed football career by making a name for himself in his criminally inclined Teller County family, no matter who he has to double-cross to get there. What ensues is a pine-curtain criminal jamboree where everyone involved keeps their cards close to their vest, and all the high-stakes two-stepping is sure to result in bloodshed. Praise for TEXAS TWO-STEP: “Tough and taut, Texas Two-Step packs a punch. Michael Pool delivers.” —Sam Wiebe, award-winning author of Cut You Down “Texas Two-Step is a shotgun marriage between the Coen brothers and Joe Lansdale. Come for the gun-slinging, drug-dealing hijinks, but stay for the witty characterizations and whip-crack plotting that drives this humdinger to its action-packed denouement. Michael Pool follows up on every ounce of promise he’s shown so far as one of Texas crime fiction’s hottest rising star. Make room on your bookshelf for Texas’ own Elmore Leonard!” —Eryk Pruitt, author of Dirtbags, Hashtag, and What We Reckon “Michael Pool’s Texas Two-Step is a gritty adventure in the spirit of True Romance and Savages, filled with weed, bullets, double-crosses, and even a messy sort of redemption.” —Nick Kolakowski, author of Slaughterhouse Blues and A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps “Michael Pool spins a story that’s got kick. Take a couple of desperate pot growers and a truckload of weed crossing state lines, throw in a gauntlet of thugs, losers and backstabbers, along with law enforcement watching and listening in, and you’ve got Texas Two-Step. A story that’s got pace, terrific characters and some unexpected turns. Everything you want in a crime novel.” —Dietrich Kalteis, award-winning author of Zero Avenue, House of Blazes, Triggerfish, The Deadbeat Club and Ride the Lightning “Some things, once you get into them, they’re hard as blue blazes to get out of. I would count Michael’s book as one of them. It’s almost impossible to put down, and, even when you finish it, it won’t let go of you. They say to write what you know. If Michael followed that line of reasoning, I’m a little worried about him. I hope he makes out alright.” —Tim Bryant, author of the Dutch Curridge series “Michael Pool’s spot-on descriptions in this crime caper make for a good read with its own voice.” —Earl Javorsky, author of Down Solo and Trust Me

Texas Two-Step (A Teller County Novel)

Thrillers & Suspense

When Cole Quick returns to his estranged hometown of Teller, Texas for his alcoholic father’s funeral, it doesn’t take long for old debts, both criminal and psychological, to drag him back into the underworld he fled thirteen years earlier. Fresh off the death of his wife, a former local debutante who swore off her inheritance to skip town with him, Cole soon finds trouble from her family on the other side of the tracks as well. To escape Teller County with his life intact he’ll have to solve an old friend’s murder, resist powerful forces conspiring to pillage his birthright, and crack open the debutante town’s sterile shell to reveal the dark forces of racism, classism, and corruption operating just beneath the surface.

Rose City (A Teller County Novel)

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Books by Pool, Michael